Introductory Comments and Notes

This evaluation was performed on Macromedia
Dreamweaver 4 by Jan Richards between 24 January and February 22, 2001.
Dreamweaver 4 (DW4) is an stand-alone HTML authoring tool for professional Web
developers.

This evaluation is a work-in-progress and is currently somewhat
limited. In fact, in most cases, only one or two examples are provided to support
each compliance judgement. In addition, the completion of this evaluation was
undertaken as part of a larger process, the testing of the ATAG guidelines in
preparation for revising them to Version 2.0. It is expected that this update
will increase the specifity of the requirements in order to minimize the necessity
for subjective judgements.

Future revisions will incorporate feedback provided by the general public,
members of the Authoring Tool Guidelines
Working Group, and the manufacturer of the tool evaluated. This document,
therefore, should only be referenced as a work-in-progress.

Overall, Dreamweaver 4 makes some important accessibility advances. However,
it does not quite reach Level A compliance.

Conformance Evaluation of Dreamweaver

Guideline 1 (GL1): Support accessible authoring practices

1.1 Ensure that the author can produce accessible content in the markup
languages supported by the tool [Priority 1]

Yes. DW4 has an integrated source editing mode. Also, most
HTML features are also supported in the WYSIWYG mode or property sheets (but
not all - for example longdesc is lacking)

1.2 Ensure that the tool preserves all accessibility content during
authoring, transformation, and conversions [Priority
1]

Yes. DW4 appears to preserve accessibility content. For
example, when a longdesc attribute was added to an IMG
element, it was preserved.

No. DW4 allows a document to be created by dragging and
dropping images and saving without ever prompting for the insertion of an
alt attribute (P1 violation). In addition, an automated tool
for creating rollover images is included that also does not prompt for alt
text. DW4 also automatically generates HTML FONT markup for colors
instead of using style sheets (P2 violation).

GL3: Support the creation of accessible content

No. Although DW4 does include ahigh priority field for alt
text in the properties bar, it does not prompt the user for other required
equivalents, such as longdesc or text transcripts. Also, the
image properties bar is not displayed when an image is drag and dropped.

3.2 Help the author create structured content and separate information
from its presentation. [Relative Priority]

Yes (Qualified). DW4 does provide support for the proper
use headings, style sheets, alt text and other content. However, this answer
is qualified since the tool does not usually prompt for alternate equivalents.

4.1 Check for and inform the author of accessibility problems [Relative
Priority]

No - (Almost P1). Macromedia offers a free extension to
DW4 that allows the user to request an automated check of common 15 accessibility
problems. In addition, it includes a list of suggested manual checks that
encompass most of the Priority 1 checkpoints in WCAG 1.0. Unfortunately, there
seem to be no suggested manual check for alternate equivalents besides alt
text as required by WCAG 10 (Checkpoint 1.1), such as transcripts for audio,
and longdesc for images.

No - (Almost P1). The DW4 accessibility checker provides
links to the WCAG document for the Priority 1 WCAG 1.0 checkpoints that it
detects automatically or suggests manual checks for. However, as with 4.1,
there are some P1 problems that DW4 does not suggest manual checks for or
provide a link for.

4.3 Allow the author to preserve markup not recognized by the tool
[Priority 2]

Yes. DW4 does preserve unrecognized markup.

4.4 Provide the author with a summary of the document's accessibility
status [Priority 3]

Yes. The DW4 checker extension does provide something of
a summary of the accessibility status, since the errors are grouped together.

4.5 Allow the author to transform presentation markup that is misused
to convey structure into structural markup and to transform presentation markup
for style into style sheets. [Priority 3]

Yes. This appears to be possible using a combination of
the DW4 "find and replace", "clean up HTML", "clean
up Word HTML" and a command recorder.

5.1 Ensure that functionality related to accessible authoring practices
is naturally integrated into the overall look and feel of the tool. [Priority
2]

Yes. The DW4 interface is consistent regardless of whether
the functionality is related to accessibility or not. In general accessibility
does not appear "tacked on", although the accessibility checker
could benefit from tighter integration.

5.2 Ensure that accessible authoring practices supporting WCAG 1.0
Priority 1 checkpoints are among the most obvious and easily initiated by the
author. [Priority 2]

No. The default method used by DW4 for coloring uses font
rather than CSS.

Guideline 6 (GL6): Promote accessibility in help and documentation

6.1 Document all features that promote the production of accessible
content. [Priority 1]

Yes. All these features appear to be documented in DW4.

6.2 Ensure that creating accessible content is a naturally integrated
part of the documentation, including examples. [Priority 2]

No. For example, the only use of the term noframes
in the DW4 help section is in a single, stand-alone page about how
to create noframes content. In addition, the help content for
inserting images mentions alt in the image properties, but the
only example of the image properties bar in action, shows the align
drop down covering the alt field.

6.3 In a dedicated section, document all features of the tool that
promote the production of accessible content. [Priority 3]

Yes. Using the DW4 preferences menu function, it is possible
to change many of the editor presentation settings.

7.3 Allow the author to edit all properties of each element and object
in an accessible fashion [Priority 1]

Yes. Many of the properties are modifiable through the DW4
menus. It is also possible to move to floating properties bar using the keyboard
and change other properties. Also, it is always possible to go to the code
view and edit the source directly.

7.4 Ensure that the editing view allows navigation via the structure
of the document in an accessible fashion [Priority 1]

Yes. DW4 provides accessible "Select parent tag"
and "Select child" functions. Also specific tags may be searched
for. Note: Although it is possible to edit a table element by
hand in the code view, there appears to be no way to enter/exit a table in
the WYSIWYG with the keys except using PgUp and PgDn which are too imprecise
for most purposes.

Conclusions

In my opinion the Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 authoring tool does not quite reach
WCAG conformance. However, there are only a small number of features missing
for WCAG level single-A compliance. If those were completed, most of the required
features for WCAG double-A compliance have also been implemented, so it would
only be another small step.

In addition, there are a number of important accessibility-related improvements
in this product that I would like to highlight. First, DW4 includes a powerful
code view that allows users who are familiar with accessibility to create accessible
content without it being disrupted during saving, etc. Second, the inclusion
of an accessibility checker greatly increases the visibility of accessibility
within the tool. Finally, the automated CSS tools appear well integrated and
effective.